embodiment

What dies it mean to be embodied? . . . . to inhabit this pound* of flesh?

In the Eucharist Christ gives us His very Body, “Take, eat, and drink . . . .” It is a sacrament reenacted in every Catholic Mass. The Faithful take the Body of Christ into their own.

In yoga, which grew out of the Hindu tradition, though it is not connected with Hinduism, nor does it call for its adherents to follow Hinduism, the body is used as a vehicle for awakening greater spiritual awareness.

As a yoga teacher, I try to nudge folks into self-acceptance and embodiment. This of course, is a two-way street because it is through my students’ struggles that I stretch deeper in my own physical self.

Being embodied is a practice. It doesn’t happen in a zen flash of enlightenment. It doesn’t happen in a three minute head balance. It doesn’t happen while eating the most delicious Gala apple in the world.

All of these lead to degrees of embodiment and we need to keep practicing all of them so that embodiment becomes a state of mind. Ironic, huh?! Really, though, we need our conscious mind in our body and our body to inhabit our conscious mind.

An embodied awareness knows no limits — we just keep going deeper.

This is an amazing three-dimensional form you are in! What are your toes up to at this moment? Can you feel every single one of the ten distal phalanges? Don’t waver. What about your ten long fingers? Can you keep them in your mind’s eye along with the toes? What about your heart, breath, triceps, jaw?

JOURNAL EXERCISE:write a piece using the point of view of your toes OR your fingers. Let them tell you a thing or two! Feel free to talk back to them. Write for twenty minutes.

MEDITATION: As you sit, BE in your body. Let your consciousness roam around inside. Afterwards you can write about the areas you found that were feeling really great, the parts that were tense, the territory that was a black hole to you, as well as whatever places you felt you met for the first time in a long time.